Fender for ship&#39;s piers.



E. S. J. PHILLIPS.

FENDER FOR SHIPS PIERS. 3

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 22. 1916.

Patented Jan. 2, 1917.

1 ATTORNEYS.

T TATN' FENDER FOR SHIPS Finns.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented an, 2, .1917.

Application filed-June 22; 1916. Serial No. 105,105.

To all whomz'tmayconcern:

Be it knownethat I, E WABnS. J. IPHHJ- LIPS, a citizen of the United .States,-residinginthe borough .of Manhattan of the-city' of New York, inathe .State. of New York, have inventedcertain. new and useful Improvemerits-in. Fenders for ShipsbPiers, of which the followingis a specification, reference be ing :had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part hereof.

This. invention relates to fenders intended to .be interposed: between-the broad side of a shipand its pier andhasflfor its principal object to provides-fender which shall neutralize to: the greatest extent =possible, -the effects of tides and currents such astend toforce' the broad side of: the ship-=toward the pier land hold-it there. 1 As is well known, the strength .of :such tides and currents at f times becomes so great that the 1 ship is forced aigainstatheside of its pier-or against an. interposed fender so' firmly :as to make it practically. impossible :to-move the ship ineither direction or, at' least,:to involve great danger to both theship and-pier-by such relative movement; Again, it has-been found that fenders of-known type: are unsatisfactory- =under many prevailing 7 conditions because-of: their tendency to follow" the movements-of the. ship .and thereby, oftentimes, be moved-outsofs engagement with the pier. I Thisifau-lt is especially serious -when a ship is leaving'the pier-and particularly when it is being Warped around ithe en'd-thereof.- Obviously, v.when; sWing-ing,' it is desirable that..a fender should b'e maintained atall timeslin position .between thesship-and'the pier. adj acenhtheend thereofand yet follow the. movements .of-the ship sufficiently to lie in snug engagement-with:the-broad side of the ship throughout its-length and swing about the end of the pierwith the ship.

Inaccordance with the present invention there is provided a-rfender-which shall overcome the disadvantages of known fendersaspointed out above andsatisfy all requirementsof use and be especiallyeffective under adverse conditions such as are: created by tides; and currents for thexpurpose of-shield ing the ship: from thepier at all times without permitting-hitsto,assume such a position I with respect to. the pier as-tobe pressed laterally. toward the same by the tideuor current...

A .furtherobj'ect of the invention is to provideza fender which shall beof such:form

asto. lie constantly in engagement with the broad sideiof the ship and with the dock and yetapermitfree movement of the ship with relation thereto without partaking of such movement to anextentsu-fiicient to move it away from. the pier.

The invention :has' been illustrated herein asembodied in twodifferent forms of fenders, andit maybe found that one of these forms .is especiallyuadaptable for use where the ship is tobe swung about the end of-the pier either. when entering or leaving. In this. form of fender provision is madefor maintaining it atthe end-of the pier and in suchirelation-to the ship asto permit-it to swing about. the end with-the ship.

.The invention will be described in greater detail. in connection withthe illustrated embodi-mentslinv the drawings, in which Figure 1... is .a view-in plan of a fender embodying. the invention and intended to be especially. suitable for use adjacent'the end of. the pier. Figs-2 isa View in side elevationhof thefender shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 3

is a .view in end elevation :of-the fender shown inFigs. land. Fig.4is a View. in plan of a somewhat modified formof fender. Fig. 5 is a view in side elevation thereof. Fig.6 is a View in end elevation of the fender shown inFigsA: and 5. Fig. 7 is a view. indicating, somewhat conventionally, the manner in which thefender shown in Figs.-.-13 is employed mostefiectivel-y. Fig. 8 is a view similar generally to Fig. 7 but showing the interposition of i the fender illustrated in'Figs. 46 between a ship and itspier.

The fender .a shown in Figs. 1-3 is formed With-astraightedge a along one side thereof and'with two oppositely inclined faces a along the other side thereof, these inclined faces extending inwardly toward the mid-section of the fender but preferably terminating in a short straight-edge sectiona which maybe disposed at about this mid-section. The fender as described I is intended to float in the water alongside the ship with its straight edge a in engagement--with the ships side and the other edge-in engagement with the pier. In practicethe fender' a willgenerally be secured loosely to the pier, as by a rope or the like engaged with one or more of the lugs a carried with the fender.

Referringnow to Fig. 7, the manner of using the fender described in the most effective way and the principle of operation by be described. In this figure the outline of the broad side of a ship is indicated by the dotted line I) while the side 0 and end at of its pier have been shown conventionally by a full line. Adjacent the end of the pier there has been disposed the improved fender a with its straight-edge mid-section a on its outer side resting about opposite the corner of the pier. At this time, one of the inclined sections 06 will rest snugly against the side 0 of the pier, so that the ship will be maintained at an angle with relation to the pier and the force of a lateral current or tide indicated as applied to the ship along the line of the arrow 6 will necessarily have a longitudinal component tending to move the ship from its slip, the general direction of this resultant being indicated by the other arrow f. If the two sides of the fender a were parallel, as in known structures, the force of the tide would impress only a lateral thrust on the straight edges of the fender between both the broad side of the ship and the side of the .pier, thereby creating such a pressure between these contacting surfaces as would tend to resist to an undesirable degree relative movement as between the ship and the fender or the ship and the pier. V The longitudinal component of force secured from "the lateral thrust of the tide on the inclined face of the wedge shaped fender serves to assist the ship in its relative movement with relation to the fender. Assuming that the ship is leaving its pier, it will be seen from Fig. 7 that it has reached a position at about where it may commence to swing about the end cl of the pier. Such swinging would necessarily be accompanied by a swinging of the wedge a about the corner of the pier, the straight edge a of the fender remaining in snug engagement with the broad side of the ship throughout the length of the fender. The swinging of the fender around the corner of the pier will occur usually along an axis adjacent the straight edge portion a of the fender, the tangential engagement of the pier surface with the side of the fender at all times insuring a free swinging movement of the ship. Eventually, it will be evident that the other inclined surface a of the outer side of the fender a will move into engagement with the end (I? of the pier at which time the ship will lie in a position nearly at right angle to its normal position in the slip. During the swinging, the en-v gagement of r the inclined surfaces of the fender with the outline of the pier and the relative arrangement of these inclined faces with relation to the straight edge section or will all serve to permit free movement of the movement such as was before assumed. The

fender g is formed asa simple wedge having oppositely inclined straight edges, one of which will rest throughout in engagement with the broad sideof the shipand the other of which will engage the width of the pier. This fender, like the fender a, may be anchored against movement by means of securing devices engaged with eyes it carried thereon, but the fender is not intended to have any positive support, but to float on the surface of the-water between the ship and the pier.

When the fender g is in its intended position between the ship I) and pier c, as indicated in Fig. 8, with the tide pressing the ship laterally against one of the inclined edges of the fender, as suggested by the direction of the arrow 6, thethrust ofthis tide may be resolved into two components, one .of which acts normal to the inclined face of the fender, and the other of which acts substantially parallel, thereto. This last named component tends to move the ship alongthe inclined edge of the fender so that when the ship is being propelled from its slip the tide will serve as a positive help to such movement rather than as a positive hindrance thereto, as heretofore.

This moving force of the .tide as applied to the ship in the manner described, it is to be parallel, movement of the ship from its slip has always tended to cause corresponding movement ofthe fender. therewith with the result that the fender has eventually been carried beyond the end of the pier and thereby rendered useless. It is to be understood that when the ship is entering its slip, the wedge fender may .be applied with equal advantage to neutralize the effect of the lateral thrust on the ship of the tide by reversing the position of the fender so that the longitudinal component of force of the tide along the edge of the fender will tend to move the shipin the desired direction.

From the description given of. the form In previous constructions where the opposite sides of the fender have been of the fender 9 shown in Figs. 4-6, it will appear that the first described embodiment a shown in Figs. 1-3 partakes of the character of the fender g by the duplication of the inclined surfaces along one edge. The principle of operation involved When the fenders are in use is substantially the same except that the double surfaced fender a is specially suitable for use at the corner of a pier for the reason that its form insures its retention in position at the corner during the swinging movement of the ship.

In the appended claims the invention is set forth in such manner as to make it clear that it is not to be limited to only one or the other of the embodiments shown, but, indeed, is of such scope as to embrace both these and modified forms intended to ac complish the same purpose in substantially the same manner.

I claim as my invention:

1. A fender for ships piers having relatively inclined side faces.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Washington, D. O.

2. A fender for ships piers having relatively inclined side faces and means to secure the fender to the pier.

3. A fender for ships piers adapted to float between the broad side of a ship and the pier and having a substantially Wedge shaped horizontal cross section.

4. A fender for ships piers having a straight edge to engage the broad side of the ship and oppositely inclined faces formed on the other edge.

5. A fender for ships piers having a straight edge to engage the broad side of the ship, inwardly extending and oppositely inclined faces formed on the other edge and a straight edge section on the second named edge of the fender substantially parallel to the first named edge and at which the oppositely inclined faces terminate.

This specification signed this 20th day of June, 1916.

EDWARD S. J. PHILLIPS.

Patents. 

